The disclosures herein relate generally to build-to-order (“BTO”) computers and more particularly to a system and method for performing web-based installation of software on such computers.
In a BTO computer manufacturing environment, one of the most, if not the most, time-consuming stages is the downloading and installation of customer-selected software onto the hard drive of each of the computers. In particular, after each computer has been assembled according to the customer's requirements, the computer is placed in a burnrack and connected to a network server via appropriate network connections. At this point, all software components ordered by the customer, including, for example, one or more operating systems (“OS”), appropriate drivers, and selected application programs, are downloaded from the server to the computer, where they are installed on the hard drive thereof. Once the software has been installed, the computer is tested to insure that it is operational.
As previously alluded to, the factory-installation process described above is an extremely cumbersome, slow, and therefore expensive process. One reason for this is that many applications are automatically loaded and installed with the customer-selected OS regardless of customer requirements. In addition, there is an ever-changing architecture that computer manufacturers must fit into the factory structure (e.g., 64-bit architecture). In a particular embodiment of a factory installation facility, during the installation process, an entire OS along with all applications is loaded into the box via a NetWare server employing a FIDA floppy.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method that increases the speed and decreases the cost involved in manufacturing BTO computers, especially, with regard to the software installation process.